While we navigate through work and life, we may occasionally find ourselves in over our heads. The harder we try to fight, the deeper we fall. For leaders Dr. Pilcher recommends 4 ways to help your solid performers avoid the quicksand and an additional 3 ways to avoid stepping into the quicksand yourself.
This episode addresses questions, such as:
Don't Fall in the Quicksand is the fourth episode in a series describing the performance curve and performance conversations, beginning with Ep. #16 High Performers: Who Are They?.
Recommended Reading: Helping a Coworker Who’s Stressed Out by: Liane Davey
Recommended Learning: Low Solid Performer Support & Low Solid Performer Conversation Guide
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While we navigate through work and life, we may occasionally find ourselves in over our heads. The harder we try to fight, the deeper we fall. For leaders Dr. Pilcher recommends 4 ways to help your solid performers avoid the quicksand and an additional 3 ways to avoid stepping into the quicksand yourself.
This episode addresses questions, such as:
Don't Fall in the Quicksand is the fourth episode in a series describing the performance curve and performance conversations, beginning with Ep. #16 High Performers: Who Are They?.
Recommended Reading: Helping a Coworker Who’s Stressed Out by: Liane Davey
Recommended Learning: Low Solid Performer Support & Low Solid Performer Conversation Guide
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Thank you for joining today’s Accelerate Your Performance Podcast. And thank you for having a desire to be your best at work and helping your organization achieve success. This podcast focuses on tactical actions to improve workplace culture and these tactics align to our Nine Principles® for Organizational Excellence.
Today, we’ll focus on “Don’t Fall in Quicksand”
At times, in our professional and personal lives, we feel like “it’s a jungle out there”. We face fears and proceed with some degree of caution as we travel through the perceived danger.
Sometimes our experiences at work feel like we are in the jungle finding our way. Every day we make choices that in many instances have positive, neutral or negative consequences. They also have an effect on us and more importantly, those around us. When we’re deep in the jungle, those choices can be the difference about whether or not we and our teams survive.
What can we do? How can we navigate our teams, and even ourselves, to survive and thrive in the jungle? Let’s begin by avoiding “the quicksand”.
What do we mean by quicksand? This episode is influenced by my colleague who works hand in hand with me to produce the Accelerate Your Performance recordings. As he listened to the last episode on middle, solid performers, he reflected on something that rang familiar to him. He recalled a scene in the movie The Replacements.
The Replacements is a light-hearted movie that focuses on the rare “second-chance” opportunity in professional sports. In this movie, the story plays with the concept that NFL players have gone on strike half-way through the season, so the owners all hire “scabs” to playout the remainder of the season. These temporary team members, for whatever reason, did not make it to the professional level and now come from all walks of life. After a close first loss that bonded these temporary players, the coach brings the team together to discuss their fears. As they begin to talk, many of them resonate with the quarterback’s description of quicksand. In this movie, the quarterback, Shane Falco, was a former All-American college player whose career went to pieces after a single horrendous bowl game. Shane became known to crack under pressure, which ultimately jeopardized his opportunity to be a professional football player.
Let’s borrow Shane’s message to his team about quicksand by applying the quicksand concept to our work environment.
Here we go. Close your eyes for a moment, take a breath and clear your head. As you listen to this scenario, a familiar position that I’m sure we have all been through at some point, I want you to visualize, internalize and allow yourself to remember how you felt...
“You’re within your first year at a new job. You’re excited about the work you do, you enjoy the everyday challenges and want to do more. Your leader then has a conversation with you one day. She praises the work you’ve done so far and offers you a new challenge. Of course, you enthusiastically say yes! You dive right in; however, this is a new project that is an unfamiliar territory to you. In the beginning things are going well but then, something happens, something goes wrong. It’s just one thing. However, you’re new, and this is a huge opportunity for you. So, what do you do? You dig in, you fight, and you do what you can on your own to immediately fix the issue and prove that you belong, that you have what it takes, and failure isn’t in your vocabulary. However, as you fight and struggle, something else happens. You fight harder and another issue happens. After a while, you fight and struggle so hard that you’ve trapped yourself. You’re in over your head, you can’t see the light anymore and before you know it you can’t breathe.”
Does that situation or one like it feel familiar? The feeling can be debilitating. Something that was once beautiful and exciting becomes scary and dark. When we get to this point, we can only hope that someone will come and pull us out, because if not, we won’t survive.
This is “the quicksand”. It is the concept that can be applied to any scenario, personally and professionally. Something goes wrong, but instead of being calm, we react – we thought we had control, yet we failed to execute. We try to fight back, make up for the losses, react without much thought….Then another thing goes wrong, and another. The harder we fight the deeper we sink until we realize we’ve stepped in the quicksand.
Listening to Brian talk about quicksand, I immediately reflected on my experience in my doctoral program. You may recall, I felt more of a middle to high performing student around high performing smart classmates and professors. A couple of years into my program, I had done well – made superior grades, succeeded in a challenging graduate assistantship, and completed my program of studies. The next task was to pass my comprehensive exams (written and oral) and to write my dissertation.
After completing the written portion of my exams, I had to defend my answers in front of my committee. There was a math formula on one question that I thought was correct. Well unfortunately it was not. One of my committee members asked me the same question over and over (I am sure he asked 100 times) and I simply could not figure out where I made the mistake. So, I kept trying to find the right answer – the more I tried the worse it got. I pulled things out of thin air in desperation, hoping I would luck onto the right answer. The more the professor asked, the worse it got for me – I was in quicksand and going down fast. Finally, my major professor rescued me and diverted the attention to another question. All to say, the rest of my oral examination defense did not go very well. I could not find my way out of the quicksand to do a job that I needed to do. I was very thankful for my major professor pulling me out before I was in over my head.
When you complete your orals, the committee discusses your performance and makes a pass/fail decision. I still remember being in the hallway outside of the room. I sat on the floor. My legs couldn’t hold me up. It seemed like an eternity waiting to be called back in the room. I wanted it to end, and I was petrified of entering that room again. When I re-entered the room, my committee members said congratulations – I was stunned. They quickly left the room shaking my hand, except for my major professor. He smiled at me and asked me how I thought I did. I professed that I did an awful job and was very embarrassed. He said you worked through the mistake and had mental toughness. And, all my mind was thinking was – what did he just say??? Are you kidding me? I didn’t know this was a mental toughness test!
He did one final congratulations as we walked out of the room. He went to his office. I walked to my car, opened the door and made my way into the seat. And, I cried like a baby – you know the type of crying when you can’t catch your breath and you are making loud noises. It felt terrible to be in the quicksand, knowing I needed help to get out.
I needed help and my major professor offered it to me during the oral defense. That experience humbled me and gave me the right perspective as I approached writing my dissertation to complete the program of studies.
How do we avoid the quicksand or if we’ve encountered it, how do we get out? It may be a jungle out there, but we are not alone. As an individual, we can’t allow ourselves to get to a point where we can no longer ask for help. My major professor helped me get out of the quicksand, and I needed his help. I will always be grateful to him.
Similar to how my major professor led me, let’s talk about how as leaders we focus on leading through quicksand.
As a leader, we are responsible for providing the map, tools, and support needed to guide our team through the jungle, successfully avoiding the quicksand.
As a leader, we have a vested interest in our team, their success and their development. In previous episodes we discussed the performance curve and how 60% of our people fall in that solid or middle range. These are the individuals most susceptible to the dangers of quicksand. That isn’t to say we allow our High Performers (that 20% to 30% of our workforce) to roam the jungle without a guide, because we can all fall in the quicksand. It’s just that in general, our high performers know the lay of the land. They have already been on a few safaris continuously adding to and improving their survival skills. They may have even experienced the quicksand themselves yet found their way out and know the precautions to avoid the quicksand or how to survive the quicksand in the future.
Our solid or middle performers might not have that skill set or even the recognition that they are sinking. Our goal as leaders is to create work environments that support moving middle performers to continuously improve so they don’t fall into this trap.
Let’s look at 4 ways we as leaders can help our middle performers avoid the quicksand.
1. Continuously and intentionally connect with individuals on our teams. Ask them what’s working well, what’s getting in the way of them doing a good job, and what can we do to be helpful to them?
2. Schedule monthly meetings with individuals on our teams using a common monthly meeting protocol. We will talk more about this on a later episode.
3. Constantly look for ways to recognize good performance. Be timely and specific with recognition. Recognize often.
4. Manage to individuals’ strengths. On our team we have several tools we use to focus on strengths. We use Strengths Finders by Gallup, MBS (Management by Strengths), and we have a teamwork tool we use to determine how our teammates prefer to work in teams. A tool with the results helps us engage in meaningful discussions and focus on what people do well and how they prefer to communicate.
So, what about our low performers? Aren’t they just as likely if not more likely to fall into the quicksand? This 10% to 20% of our workforce is important; however, this group comes with a unique caveat. There are some in this group that CAN be saved, some that DON’T want to be saved, and some that actively work to guide the group head first into the quicksand. We’ll talk more about this group next week as we continue our discussion on the performance curve.
In summary, similar to my major professor helping me out of the quicksand, we as leaders need to help individuals on our teams do the same.
Let’s make an important note. To be a good leader who helps teams navigate the quicksand, we need to make sure we help ourselves.
As my seasoned listeners know, I travel a lot working with partner organizations on their journey towards continuous improvement. Through this work, I have the opportunity to fly all over the country on many different airlines. What’s funny, even though I’m pretty sure I could recite the whole speech myself, I find myself paying attention to the flight attendants during their safety presentation. If I have my airpods on, I turn them off until the safety presentation is over. Although they each try to add their own twist, especially nowadays, the one consistent protocol across any airline is that during a loss of cabin pressure, masks will fall from the overhead. More importantly they emphasize, “place your mask on yourself before helping anyone else”.
What an interesting concept. As humans, we have this pre-determined notion that to help, or to be a hero, is to put others first regardless of the risk to ourselves. However, in this case, it is a best practice, an industry standard to help yourself before helping others.
How does this travel situation apply to leadership? To do what’s right for our team, we must be able to perform and assist. So, we as leaders have to learn to personally manage the quicksand. Otherwise, we become part of the problem.
This past weekend, I watched an old movie again, Officer and a Gentleman. Zach Mayo (known by his troop as Mayonaise) came from a struggling family and home life and had tremendous desire to make it through the first round of navy training. There was a young woman going through the training. She had one struggle – getting over the climbing wall. She made it to the last round of the obstacle in the last weeks of training. Also, Zach Mayo had an opportunity to beat the all-time record on the course. She started first and he came behind her as she tackled the wall. He made it over and started on the next obstacle, his classmates cheering him on. He stopped; went back to the wall, got on the wall beside her and coached her up the wall until she made it over. They finished the course together. I love that scene. Why? Because Zach’s commanding officer was tough on him and pulled him out of the quicksand at a most critical time. His commanding officer had learned to personally navigate the quicksand from his experiences. He transferred his learning to help Zach manage the quicksand. Zach became a leader when he saved his teammate from the quicksand. Our quicksand experiences have a powerful domino effect.
To help our team avoid the quicksand and successfully navigate the jungle, we first avoid the quicksand by properly guiding our team members down the right path. And if they get stuck, we need to be able to pull them out. If we are in our own quicksand or in their quicksand without the tools to get out, we can’t help. In this position, we can only watch as they sink or worse, pull them in deeper more quickly.
Here’s how I feel the quicksand story applies to me as an executive leader. It’s taken me years of learning to get here and learn how important this next story is for executives to be their best.
On our team we are evaluated by measurable goals. I like and believe in the notion that executive leaders co-own the jungle with the team. Like many of you, for our team to continue to prosper we have to grow our business and make a profit to have liquidity to grow.
We have three teams who contribute to growth. Sometimes all three teams achieve their goals and at other times one or two may not. As the executive leader of the team, I own all three teams’ goals equally. When one team does not achieve, my evaluation is affected by their performance, even if my time is not directly spent in the work. This feels right to me. I feel the pain similar to our team members. When our division excels I reap the rewards; when we don’t I share the disappointments. Why? They need to count on me, believe in me and know that I will help them stay out of the quicksand or if they take a step too far, I am there to help them find their way out.
All of us want to do everything we can to stay out of the quicksand. Sometimes we step in it and need help to manage our way out. At other times, there are things we can do to avoid taking that step. As we close, let’s summarize and focus on three things that can help us avoid falling in the quicksand.
1. Be aware, and make sure you have the information you need to avoid the quicksand. How?
a. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
b. Set expectations with your leader and those you work with early on.
c. Pro-actively identify paths with quicksand and begin to navigate those obstacles before it’s too late.
2. Don’t be scared to ask for help early and often.
I don’t know about you, but I have difficulty asking for help. Human nature tells us that if we ask for help, we are admitting a deficiency of our own. This is a hard concept to master, I struggle with it every day; however, knowing when you need help and acting to receive help is a skill that truly takes work. Keep in mind though, we want to do a lot of homework prior to this ask. Why? We will get better help and a better outcome. Let’s spend more time with this topic down the road. It’s important.
3. Stay calm. Think, Analyze and Act.
Every choice has a consequence, and sometimes we don’t make the best choice in the moment. If we open our minds, we know when we’ve gone down a bad path. When we do, let’s take a breath, step back from the problem to observe the environment, weigh the outcomes of our next move, and then act. Next time it will be easier to make a better choice when we take a moment to calmly reflect.
As I leave you this week, let’s do two things:
1. Ask yourself, “Am I in the quicksand”? If so, “how deep in am I, and what steps can I take from our discussion today to climb out?”
2. As a leader, reflect on your team. Is there anyone having trouble navigating the jungle? If so, what can you do to help them before it’s too late? If no one on your team is in the quicksand, how can you develop your team and provide the map to help them avoid the quicksand in the future?
I mentioned in our last podcast episode titled What is a Middle/Solid Performer, “our job as leaders and as peers is to work with some of our most critical teammates to accelerate their performance.” One way we can achieve this goal is by helping our team avoid the quicksand. Let’s take a first step by providing our teams with the tools, support, and resources to avoid the quicksand, and survive the jungle. By doing so, we will be better people, our employees will succeed, and together we can make a difference with the work we do.
Let’s try not to fall in the quicksand. And if we do, let’s master the skills we need to get out and help others out when they fall.
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Thank you for tuning in to Accelerate Your Performance. I look forward to connecting with you on our next Podcast episode where we will continue our focus on individual performance and answer this question, What is a Low Performer? Have a great week.